Please help to draw best itinerary for Scandinavian countries in November'24.
 

I need help from you to draw best itinerary for Scandinavian countries in November'24 (15NOV24-03EC24). We are 3 persons, will be arriving from India in Copenhagen on 14th November evening and will be departing to India on 4th December from Copenhagen. In between, I wish to explore the region for 'must see/do'. The main attraction for me would be Northern Lights and visiting capital cities, museums, memorials etc. No winter sports, but a sledge ride would be interesting. Please pour in your suggestions about itinerary, cost cutting ideas, hotels/hostels, transport and a small cruise travel, ferries etc. Thank you in advance.

Hi,
You could take the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm, stay there for a few days, and continue by the night ferry to Helsinki. Stay there for a few days. Take a night train to Lapland and then fly back to Copenhagen. You can visit Copenhaguen at the beginning and end of your trip.
Don't try to see more if you don't want to speed up too much.

Another possibility would be;
Fly to Oslo
Take a scenic train ride to Bergen (12 hours)
Take the scenic coastal cruise to Tromsø (3 days)
​​​​​Fly back to Copenhagen from Tromsø

You could also fly from Bergen to Tromsø, but the coastal cruise is very scenic.

In Tromsø you would have a good chance to see northern lights, but it's never guaranteed, because it depends on solar activity. There are lots of other winter activities available in Tromsø, which is above the Arctic Circle. In early November there will be very few hours of daylight, but there is a long twilight, so you can still see things. In late November, the sun never rises in Tromsø, but there is still the twilight.

Here's a little more information about the itinerary I proposed:

Scenic train from Oslo to Bergen
https://www.vy.no/en/traffic-and-rou...he-bergen-line

There's also a sort of organised tour called Norway in a Nutshell that you can take from Oslo to Bergen. It involves two different trains, a boat cruise on a fjord, and a bus. This takes 12 hours, but the direct train takes less time. This I sort of a do-it-yourself tour. They furnish all the tickets and assistance with the transfers, but you do the actual travel on your own.

https://www.fjordtours.com/en/norway...-in-a-nutshell

Coastal cruise Bergen to Tromsø (four nights)
https://prod.havilavoyages.com/touch...ge-search-page

This page shows all of their choices; you have to scroll down to see Bergen-Tromsø.

This is not a cruise ship, but a sort of ferry or mail packet that makes brief stops in many small towns, and one longer stop each day in an interesting town. They have very nice cabins and good restaurants on board. A lot of people use it instead of a large cruise ship.

Another company covers the same route on slightly older boats. They may be cheaper.
https://www.hurtigruten.com/en
Scroll down to the bottom to book your own port-to-port journey.

I should tell you that I haven't visited Norway myself, but I'm hoping to follow more or less the route I've proposed, so I've done all the research.

You might want to spend a few days in Bergen or Oslo, or both. I have been to Copenhagen and Sweden (mostly Lund), many years ago.

The best areas in Scandinavia to watch the Northern Lights are Tromsö in Norway and the Swedish or Finnish Lapland. The lights are usually visible on Autumn and Winter nights with clear sky and high solar activity.

Another possible itinery is to take the night ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, stay a few nights, continue by train to Stockholm, explore Stockholm. From Stockholm you can fly to Kiruna and transfer to Abisko in Swedish Lapland and watch the Northern Lights. From Kiruna you can fly back to Copenhagen with one stop in Stockholm.

I would not consider the five day cruise from Bergen to Tromso because if the weather happens to be bad, a not unlikely event in November, the whole trip might be a miserable experience. I would take the Norway in a Nutshell option to experience some of the fjord country. For the rest I would stick to capital cities because they offer more indoor options in case of bad weather.

The boats keep close to land, with a single open sea crossing which is at night going north. I've been on one in a 110km/h+ storm and it was fine. They are fitted with stabilisers and designed for the job they do. That said they are expensive, but then again all of Scandinavia is expensive.

Note that only Denmark, Sweden and Norway are Scandinavia, Finland is not Scandinavia.

There are good night trains you can take to get up north. I would suggest you look at the tourist board websites for ideas on routes, also just do a search on organised tours and roundtrips in the area to get an idea of what is possible in your timespan.

It is unlikely that there will be enough snow/ice for a sledge ride in November, but you may well get some snow/icy conditions. Pack accordingly!

I would have suggested renting an electric car and doing it yourself but if you have no experience of driving in snow or ice that is not a good idea.

Note that only Denmark, Sweden and Norway are Scandinavia, Finland is not Scandinavia.

But they do form a Nordic country group as demonstrated by their shared compound for the embassies in Berlin.

"The embassies of the Nordic countries in Berlin are all gathered together in a single complex: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland each have separate German representations here, alongside a communal reception and information centre."

There is an important point to be made that Finland does not share the same culture or language group of the Scandinavian countries. The communal reception area in Berlin is a nice convenience if you are visiting Berlin and have business with multiple Nordic countries. It also saves them money from having to pay for a bunch of receptionists.

Are you only interested in Scandinavia -- your thread is tagged for several countries there are definitely not Scandinavian (Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland)

My in-laws did a cruise of the Baltic that took in all of the countries you mention, plus Germany. It started from the UK. You would have to look into it but it seems to me to be a very efficient way of doing the countries you mention. It's not that compact an area. However, I don't know it would be available for the time of year that you want to travel. Some homework for you!

Lavandula

Hi, I thought while returning to Copenhagen, I would take road (bus/train) and travel through these countries to have glimpse of their cultures and monuments, may be 1 days in each capital city, if time permits. I tagged those countries, as they too are in my bucketlist.

Thank you! I have added Tromso in the list. Also Rovaniemi.

So tentative plan is 2 days in Copenhagen, overnight train to Oslo. 2 days in Olso. Flight to Tromso. 1 day in Tromso. Bus to Hardstad, visit Trondenes Church, Historical center, fort. Harstad to Narvik by cable car. Stay in Narvik. Narvik to Gaellivare-stay at Kiruna.Kiruna to Rovaniemi, visit SantaClaus village. Next day activity, stay at Kemi. Fly Kemi to Helsinki. Helsinki to Stockholm flight/ferry. Stockholm to Copenhagen. Is this doable?

I know you have this thought in mind, but not very realistic. That is a lot of time in transit for a glimpse of some monuments. Have you at all figured out how long it takes to travel between them? It takes longer than you think. And you aren't going to be see much culture in a rushed day or two, no matter where you are traveling.

OK, I'll say it. Too much travel for too little time spent with the sights mentioned. A 'glimpse' is something negative on these boards: it just means a fleeting sight. If you are planning your own travel, why would you plan bad techniques into it? There are ways of doing trips like this, but this isn't it. I'm out, sorry.

Lavandula

It sounds like too much to me, with lot of time on the road and very little quality sightseeing. I would pick at most 4 places to visit. Santa Claus village is a theme park and probably a lot of fun but you could also visit a Sami village and see Nordic indigenous culture. I wouldn't miss the Vasa Museum in Stockholm as it's very unique and the Vasa ship is incredible.

The Scandinavian peninsula plus Denmark and Finland is huge so I would fly. Winter days are short so it's dark most of the time and you will only see darkness and lights from your train or bus windows.

Anyway, good luck with your plans.

Dear Lavandula, Would you help me refine this itinerary? Or suggest a tour agency? Or what would you do when you are travelling a long distance, for a long awaited trip, in a limited number of (about 20) days?

With your time frame and bucket list I would make some changes to enable more sightseeing and spend a little less time travelling. I think it will be hard to find transportation in November between Kiruna and Rovaniemi.
This is what I suggest

Day 1 to 3
Arrival and sightseeing in Copenhagen

Day 4 to 6
Train at day time to Oslo and sightseeing in Oslo.

Day 7 to 9
Flight to Tromsö. Evening tour searching for the Nordic Lights. Sightseeing in the area of Tromsö.

Day 10 to 12
Flight with Finnair from Tromsö to Rovaniemi (change in Helsinki.) Stay at a Resort like Apukka that offers sledge rides and other early winter activities in November. Visit SantaClaus Village.

Day 13 to 15
Train to Helsinki. Sightseeing in Helsinki. Evening/night boat to Stockholm.

Day 16 to 18
Sigtseeing in Stockholm

Day 19 to 21
Train to Copenhagen. A spare day to relax. Flight out of Copenhagen.

Hi angel1, Jodah73 has made some really good suggestions. By bad techniques I mean planning only single days or single overnights (almost anywhere), or planning more time on transport than you will actually spend in locations, and also not factoring in travel days. Jodah73's plan is doable but I would encourage you to write out the plan for yourself in terms of overnights (where will you sleep every day), and also be honest with yourself about which days will be travel days. When I plan my own trips I deliberately block off a whole day for travel between locations. You might find you have part of a day left over and you can then schedule how you think you might find an activity (a meal, one sight, etc) to plug that gap. Or will you schedule in some laundry or catching up on emails (that last one is always my problem when travelling), because these are often things you have to do while on the road for more than a week.

If you catch the overnight ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm I highly recommend booking a cabin and not staying in the general passenger areas. It's a wild trip because alcohol consumption is heavily taxed in Finland (and Sweden?) and people drink heavily on the ferry because it is in international waters and thus escapes the tax. I think there might even be a casino on board. In any case, venturing outside the cabin is a bad idea, I speak from experience!

Lavandula

Thank you so much!

Dear Lavandula,
Thank you for the tips and endorsing the itinerary given by Jodah73. I will stick to it and can now start with hotel bookings.

Hello all!
My itinerary is almost finalized. Just stuck with travel from Tromso to Rovaniemi. The finnair flight is too expensive. Can anyone suggest a travel route by road/rail? I can reduce a day in Rovoniemi to have this scenic travel, saving on the cost too. Quick reply will be highly appreciated as I have to finalize bookings before applying for visa. Thank you!

With regard to the northern lights - from what I’ve read nothing is guaranteed. As it happens we have had a brilliant northern lights this week in Gloucestershire, England ! In August which is just amazing …..

I am sorry to hear that you have problems getting to Rovaniemi! The direct buses on the Artic Route between Tromso and Rovaniemi are not running in November. Without a car it will be difficult and time consuming to get there by rail or road, but it is possible. I stress that I have not done it and I cannot really recommend it. The route is close to what you suggested earlier.

• take a bus in the afternoon from Tromso to Narvik (3-4 hours)
• stay the night in Narvik
• continue by train in the morning to Luleå in Sweden (7-8 hours)
• take a late evening bus from Luleå to Haparanda at the border to Finland
• stay the night in Haparanda
• cross the border by taxi in the morning to Tornio in Finland and catch a bus in Tornio to Rovaniemi. You need to change bus once.

In the end this can be more expensive than the Finnair flight. It might be cheaper to fly with Norwegian to Helsinki and take the train to Rovaniemi. All the options I can think of are unfortunately expensive. Tromso and Rovaniemi are really far off places.

Thank you Jodah73. Finally I booked the flight to Rovaniemi. It has 1 stop in Helsinki, but I can reach in 4.5 hours.

Great that you found a flight within your price range. This is by far the best option!

Hi,
I am back from the tip and just followed itinerary suggested by you, except small variations as given below. I am extremely thankful to you for your perfect advice. It was a wonderful trip.
Day 1 to 3
Arrival and sightseeing in Copenhagen
Day 4 to 6
Overnight ferry to Oslo and sightseeing in Oslo.
Day 7 to 9
Flight to Tromsö. Evening tour searching for the Nordic Lights. (Were lucky to see the northern lights). Sightseeing in the area of Tromsö.
Day 10 to 12
Flight with Finnair from Tromsö to Rovaniemi (change in Helsinki - this flight was delayed, but we reached by evening.) Stay at a apartment in city center. Visited SantaClaus Village. Tried a northern lights chase tour again, but it was cloudy, so there was no luck.
Day 13 to 15
Train to Helsinki. Sightseeing in Helsinki. Evening/night boat to Stockholm- Silja Sernade.
Day 16 to 18
Sigtseeing in Stockholm
Day 19 to 21
Train to Copenhagen. A spare day to relax. Flight out of Copenhagen.